美國文化中的「自我」——談漫畫在英語文化教學之應用

The “Self” in American Cultural Characteristics—Using Comic Strips to Teach Cultural Concepts in the EFL Classroom

在美國文化價值取向中，「自我」是很明顯且頗受強調的文化特徵，這和世界上大多數以「家庭」為中心的文化價值觀，大為不同。探究他國的價值取向，是瞭解該國文化的必要途徑，也是任何外語教學的明確目標之一。語言和文化二者關係密切：藉著語言可瞭解文化，而文化更可促進語言的學習。利用漫畫和卡通於語言文化的教學，一向為語言教師所忽略，事實上，漫畫和卡通不僅可用於外語聽、說、讀、寫的教學，更是文化教學的利器。因此，本文將先就美國文化中的「自我」價值觀作一探討，再就所蒐集得的、顯示此一價值觀的漫畫作一說明，並提出利用該等漫畫於語言文化教學之方法。

Among American value orientations, the “self” is a salient American value that is given much stress. This appears to differ considerably from most societies in the world where family is likely to command much more attention.Discussions of value orientation of other societies provide the best guidance for understanding and adapting to their cultural patterns. A clear understanding of other cultures is one of the explicit goals of any foreign language teaching.Language and culture are in close relationship: the development of language skills gives access to another culture and culture shapes the development and use of language. Comic strips, as a means of teaching a foreign language and culture, have often been overlooked by teachers. As a matter of fact, everyone knows the cliché “A picture is worth a thousand words.” Comic strips can be used in numerous ways to teach the four skills—listening, speaking, reading, and writing—as well as culture. The present paper will first explore the “self” of American cultural characteristics. Then comic strips collected forthis purpose will be shown to explain the essence of the American value of the “self.” Ideas and examples of how to teach language and culture utilizing comic strips will be provided.